Rock Band 4 Will Not Support Keyboards and Pro Guitar

Only a couple of hours ago Harmonix announced that they were developing Rock Band 4 in collaboration with Mad Catz; however, there is more to it.

Alongside the announcement, Harmonix also answered some important questions in a FAQ section. The first thing that caught my eye was something you might not have expected, the game is not going to support Pro Guitars and Keyboards.

Rock Band 4 will focus on the core experience and the roots of the franchise – guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. There will be no Pro Guitar or key support in Rock Band 4. We will continue to support “Pro” mode for Drums.

These peripherals had been introduced to the game in Rock Band 3 and were not actually a part of the original experience of the game. That, specifically, is the idea behind the shift; Harmonix wants to return back to the core experience of the series.

As a result, you will be messing around a lot with guitar, bass, drums and vocals but not pro guitars and keyboards.

If you look at it, this actually makes sense. The series got success for things other than these, and as far as the pro guitars are concerned, only a limited number of people own them.

However, the pro drums have not been removed with looks kind of out of line here. Also, some of the fans are suggesting that keyboards have been relied on heavily in the last game in the series, and that there should be a way to keep them in Rock Band 4 somehow.

Do you think Rock Band 4 is going to be a better deal with out these peripherals, or with them?